The laity derive the right and duty to the apostolate from their union
with Christ the head; incorporated into Christ's Mystical Body through
Baptism and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit through Confirmation,
they are assigned to the apostolate by the Lord Himself. (On
the Apostalate of the Laity.3)

CONGREGATION FOR THE
DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

DECLARATION
"DOMINUS IESUS"ON THE UNICITY AND SALVIFIC UNIVERSALITY
OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE CHURCH

INTRODUCTION

1.The Lord
Jesus, before ascending into heaven, commanded his disciples
to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world and to baptize all nations: “Go
into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
He who believes and is baptized will be saved; he who does not
believe will be condemned” (Mk 16:15-16); “All
power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always,
until the end of the world” (Mt 28:18-20;
cf. Lk 24:46-48; Jn 17:18,20,21; Acts 1:8).

The
Church's universal mission is born from the command of Jesus Christ
and is fulfilled in the course of the centuries in the proclamation
of the mystery of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the mystery
of the incarnation of the Son, as saving event for all humanity.
The fundamental contents of the profession of the Christian faith
are expressed thus: “I believe in one God, the Father, Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. I believe
in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten
of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true
God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father. Through him
all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, he came down
from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate
of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified
under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third
day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended
into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will
come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom
will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver
of life, who proceeds from the Father. With the Father and the Son
he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge
one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection
of the dead, and the life of the world to come”.1

2.In
the course of the centuries, the Church has proclaimed and witnessed
with fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus. At the close of the second
millennium, however, this mission is still far from complete.2 For
that reason, Saint Paul's words are now more relevant than ever: “Preaching
the Gospel is not a reason for me to boast; it is a necessity laid
on me: woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1
Cor 9:16).
This explains the Magisterium's particular attention to giving reasons
for and supporting the evangelizing mission of the Church, above
all in connection with the religious traditions of the world.3

In
considering the values which these religions witness to and offer
humanity, with an open and positive approach, the Second Vatican
Council's Declaration on
the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions states: “The
Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these
religions. She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct,
the precepts and teachings, which, although differing in many ways
from her own teaching, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that truth
which enlightens all men”.4 Continuing
in this line of thought, the Church's proclamation of Jesus Christ, “the
way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6),
today also makes use of the practice of inter-religious dialogue.
Such dialogue certainly does not replace, but rather accompanies
the missio ad gentes,
directed toward that “mystery of unity”, from which “it follows that
all men and women who are saved share, though differently, in the
same mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ through his Spirit”.5 Inter-religious
dialogue, which is part of the Church's evangelizing mission,6 requires
an attitude of understanding and a relationship of mutual knowledge
and reciprocal enrichment, in obedience to the truth and with respect
for freedom.7

3.In
the practice of dialogue between the Christian faith and other religious
traditions, as well as in seeking to understand its theoretical basis
more deeply, new questions arise that need to be addressed through
pursuing new paths of research, advancing proposals, and suggesting
ways of acting that call for attentive discernment. In this task,
the present Declaration seeks to recall to Bishops, theologians,
and all the Catholic faithful, certain indispensable elements of
Christian doctrine, which may help theological reflection in developing
solutions consistent with the contents of the faith and responsive
to the pressing needs of contemporary culture.

The
expository language of the Declaration corresponds to its purpose,
which is not to treat in a systematic manner the question of the
unicity and salvific universality of the mystery of Jesus Christ
and the Church, nor to propose solutions to questions that are matters
of free theological debate, but rather to set forth again the doctrine
of the Catholic faith in these areas, pointing out some fundamental
questions that remain open to further development, and refuting specific
positions that are erroneous or ambiguous. For this reason, the Declaration
takes up what has been taught in previous Magisterial documents,
in order to reiterate certain truths that are part of the Church's
faith.

4.The
Church's constant missionary proclamation is endangered today by
relativistic theories which seek to justify religious pluralism,
not only de facto but
also de iure (or in principle). As
a consequence, it is held that certain truths have been superseded;
for example, the definitive and complete character of the revelation
of Jesus Christ, the nature of Christian faith as compared with that
of belief in other religions, the inspired nature of the books of
Sacred Scripture, the personal unity between the Eternal Word and
Jesus of Nazareth, the unity of the economy of the Incarnate Word
and the Holy Spirit, the unicity and salvific universality of the
mystery of Jesus Christ, the universal salvific mediation of the
Church, the inseparability — while recognizing the distinction — of
the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, and the Church, and the
subsistence of the one Church of Christ in the Catholic Church.

The
roots of these problems are to be found in certain presuppositions
of both a philosophical and theological nature, which hinder the
understanding and acceptance of the revealed truth. Some of these
can be mentioned: the conviction of the elusiveness and inexpressibility
of divine truth, even by Christian revelation; relativistic attitudes
toward truth itself, according to which what is true for some would
not be true for others; the radical opposition posited between the
logical mentality of the West and the symbolic mentality of the East;
the subjectivism which, by regarding reason as the only source of
knowledge, becomes incapable of raising its “gaze to the heights,
not daring to rise to the truth of being”;8 the
difficulty in understanding and accepting the presence of definitive
and eschatological events in history; the metaphysical emptying of
the historical incarnation of the Eternal Logos, reduced to a mere
appearing of God in history; the eclecticism of those who, in theological
research, uncritically absorb ideas from a variety of philosophical
and theological contexts without regard for consistency, systematic
connection, or compatibility with Christian truth; finally, the tendency
to read and to interpret Sacred Scripture outside the Tradition and
Magisterium of the Church.

On
the basis of such presuppositions, which may evince different nuances,
certain theological proposals are developed — at times presented
as assertions, and at times as hypotheses — in which Christian revelation
and the mystery of Jesus Christ and the Church lose their character
of absolute truth and salvific universality, or at least shadows
of doubt and uncertainty are cast upon them.

I.
THE FULLNESS AND DEFINITIVENESS
OF THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST

5.As
a remedy for this relativistic mentality, which is becoming ever
more common, it is necessary above all to reassert the definitive
and complete character of the revelation of Jesus Christ. In fact,
it must be firmly believed that,
in the mystery of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, who is “the
way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6),
the full revelation of divine truth is given: “No one knows the Son
except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and
anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Mt 11:27); “No
one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is in the bosom of the
Father, has revealed him” (Jn 1:18); “For
in Christ the whole fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9-10).

Faithful
to God's word, the Second Vatican Council teaches: “By this revelation
then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines
forth in Christ, who is at the same time the mediator and the fullness
of all revelation”.9 Furthermore, “Jesus
Christ, therefore, the Word made flesh, sent ‘as a man to men', ‘speaks
the words of God' (Jn 3:34),
and completes the work of salvation which his Father gave him to
do (cf. Jn 5:36; 17:4).
To see Jesus is to see his Father (cf. Jn 14:9).
For this reason, Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through
his whole work of making himself present and manifesting himself:
through his words and deeds, his signs and wonders, but especially
through his death and glorious resurrection from the dead and finally
with the sending of the Spirit of truth, he completed and perfected
revelation and confirmed it with divine testimony... The Christian
dispensation, therefore, as the new and definitive covenant, will
never pass away, and we now await no further new public revelation
before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1
Tim 6:14 and Tit 2:13)”.10

Thus,
the Encyclical Redemptoris
missio calls the Church once again to the task of announcing
the Gospel as the fullness of truth: “In this definitive Word of
his revelation, God has made himself known in the fullest possible
way. He has revealed to mankind who he is. This definitive self-revelation
of God is the fundamental reason why the Church is missionary by
her very nature. She cannot do other than proclaim the Gospel, that
is, the fullness of the truth which God has enabled us to know about
himself”.11 Only the revelation of
Jesus Christ, therefore, “introduces into our history a universal
and ultimate truth which stirs the human mind to ceaseless effort”.12

6.Therefore,
the theory of the limited, incomplete, or imperfect character of
the revelation of Jesus Christ, which would be complementary to that
found in other religions, is contrary to the Church's faith. Such
a position would claim to be based on the notion that the truth about
God cannot be grasped and manifested in its globality and completeness
by any historical religion, neither by Christianity nor by Jesus
Christ.

Such
a position is in radical contradiction with the foregoing statements
of Catholic faith according to which the full and complete revelation
of the salvific mystery of God is given in Jesus Christ. Therefore,
the words, deeds, and entire historical event of Jesus, though limited
as human realities, have nevertheless the divine Person of the Incarnate
Word, “true God and true man”13 as their
subject. For this reason, they possess in themselves the definitiveness
and completeness of the revelation of God's salvific ways, even if
the depth of the divine mystery in itself remains transcendent and
inexhaustible.The truth
about God is not abolished or reduced because it is spoken in human
language; rather, it is unique, full, and complete, because he who
speaks and acts is the Incarnate Son of God. Thus, faith requires
us to profess that the Word made flesh, in his entire mystery, who
moves from incarnation to glorification, is the source, participated
but real, as well as the fulfilment of every salvific revelation
of God to humanity,14 and that the Holy
Spirit, who is Christ's Spirit, will teach this “entire truth” (Jn 16:13)
to the Apostles and, through them, to the whole Church.

7.The
proper response to God's revelation is “the
obedience of faith (Rom 16:26;
cf. Rom 1:5;2
Cor 10:5-6)
by which man freely entrusts his entire self to God, offering ‘the
full submission of intellect and will to God who reveals' and freely
assenting to the revelation given by him”.15 Faith
is a gift of grace: “in order to have faith, the grace of God must
come first and give assistance; there must also be the interior helps
of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who
opens the eyes of the mind and gives ‘to everyone joy and ease in
assenting to and believing in the truth'”.16

The
obedience of faith implies acceptance of the truth of Christ's revelation,
guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself:17 “Faith
is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time,
and inseparably, it is a free
assent to the whole truth that God has revealed”.18 Faith,
therefore, as “a gift of God” and
as “a supernatural virtue
infused by him”,19 involves a dual
adherence: to God who reveals and to the truth which he reveals,
out of the trust which one has in him who speaks. Thus, “we must
believe in no one but God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”.20

For
this reason, the distinction between theological
faith and belief in
the other religions, must be firmly
held. If faith is the acceptance in grace of revealed truth,
which “makes it possible to penetrate the mystery in a way that allows
us to understand it coherently”,21 then
belief, in the other religions, is that sum of experience and thought
that constitutes the human treasury of wisdom and religious aspiration,
which man in his search for truth has conceived and acted upon in
his relationship to God and the Absolute.22

This
distinction is not always borne in mind in current theological reflection.
Thus, theological faith (the acceptance of the truth revealed by
the One and Triune God) is often identified with belief in other
religions, which is religious experience still in search of the absolute
truth and still lacking assent to God who reveals himself. This is
one of the reasons why the differences between Christianity and the
other religions tend to be reduced at times to the point of disappearance.

8.The
hypothesis of the inspired value of the sacred writings of other
religions is also put forward. Certainly, it must be recognized that
there are some elements in these texts which may be de
facto instruments by which countless people throughout the centuries
have been and still are able today to nourish and maintain their
life-relationship with God. Thus, as noted above, the Second Vatican
Council, in considering the customs, precepts, and teachings of the
other religions, teaches that “although differing in many ways from
her own teaching, these nevertheless often reflect a ray of that
truth which enlightens all men”.23

The
Church's tradition, however, reserves the designation of inspired
texts to the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, since
these are inspired by the Holy Spirit.24Taking
up this tradition, the Dogmatic
Constitution on Divine Revelation of the Second Vatican Council
states: “For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic
age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and New
Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds
that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 20:31; 2
Tim 3:16; 2
Pet 1:19-21;
3:15-16), they have God as their author, and have been handed
on as such to the Church herself”.25These
books “firmly, faithfully, and without error, teach that truth which
God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the
Sacred Scriptures”.26

Nevertheless,
God, who desires to call all peoples to himself in Christ and to
communicate to them the fullness of his revelation and love, “does
not fail to make himself present in many ways, not only to individuals,
but also to entire peoples through their spiritual riches, of which
their religions are the main and essential expression even when they
contain ‘gaps, insufficiencies and errors'”.27 Therefore,
the sacred books of other religions, which in actual fact direct
and nourish the existence of their followers, receive from the mystery
of Christ the elements of goodness and grace which they contain.

II.
THE INCARNATE LOGOS
AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE WORK OF SALVATION

9.In
contemporary theological reflection there often emerges an approach
to Jesus of Nazareth that considers him a particular, finite, historical
figure, who reveals the divine not in an exclusive way, but in a
way complementary with other revelatory and salvific figures. The
Infinite, the Absolute, the Ultimate Mystery of God would thus manifest
itself to humanity in many ways and in many historical figures: Jesus
of Nazareth would be one of these. More concretely, for some, Jesus
would be one of the many faces which the Logos has assumed in the
course of time to communicate with humanity in a salvific way.

Furthermore,
to justify the universality of Christian salvation as well as the
fact of religious pluralism, it has been proposed that there is an
economy of the eternal Word that is valid also outside the Church
and is unrelated to her, in addition to an economy of the incarnate
Word. The first would have a greater universal value than the second,
which is limited to Christians, though God's presence would be more
full in the second.

10.These
theses are in profound conflict with the Christian faith. The doctrine
of faith must be firmly believed which
proclaims that Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, and he alone, is the
Son and the Word of the Father. The Word, which “was in the beginning
with God” (Jn 1:2)
is the same as he who “became flesh” (Jn 1:14).
In Jesus, “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16), “the
whole fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9). He
is the “only begotten Son of the Father, who is in the bosom of the
Father” (Jn 1:18),
his “beloved Son, in whom we have redemption... In him the fullness
of God was pleased to dwell, and through him, God was pleased to
reconcile all things to himself, on earth and in the heavens, making
peace by the blood of his Cross” (Col 1:13-14;
19-20).

Faithful
to Sacred Scripture and refuting erroneous and reductive interpretations,
the First Council of Nicaea solemnly defined its faith in: “Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten generated from the Father,
that is, from the being of the Father, God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the
Father, through whom all things were made, those in heaven and those
on earth. For us men and for our salvation, he came down and became
incarnate, was made man, suffered, and rose again on the third day.
He ascended to the heavens and shall come again to judge the living
and the dead”.28 Following the teachings
of the Fathers of the Church, the Council of Chalcedon also professed: “the
one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in
divinity and perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly man...,
one in being with the Father according to the divinity and one in
being with us according to the humanity..., begotten of the Father
before the ages according to the divinity and, in these last days,
for us and our salvation, of Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, according
to the humanity”.29

For
this reason, the Second Vatican Council states that Christ “the new
Adam...‘image of the invisible God' (Col 1:15)
is himself the perfect man who has restored that likeness to God
in the children of Adam which had been disfigured since the first
sin... As an innocent lamb he merited life for us by his blood which
he freely shed. In him God reconciled us to himself and to one another,
freeing us from the bondage of the devil and of sin, so that each
one of us could say with the apostle: the Son of God ‘loved me and
gave himself up for me' (Gal 2:20)”.30

In
this regard, John Paul II has explicitly declared: “To introduce
any sort of separation between the Word and Jesus Christ is contrary
to the Christian faith... Jesus is the Incarnate Word — a single
and indivisible person... Christ is none other than Jesus of Nazareth;
he is the Word of God made man for the salvation of all... In the
process of discovering and appreciating the manifold gifts — especially
the spiritual treasures — that God has bestowed on every people,
we cannot separate those gifts from Jesus Christ, who is at the centre
of God's plan of salvation”.31

It
is likewise contrary to the Catholic faith to introduce a separation
between the salvific action of the Word as such and that of the Word
made man. With the incarnation, all the salvific actions of the Word
of God are always done in unity with the human nature that he has
assumed for the salvation of all people. The one subject which operates
in the two natures, human and divine, is the single person of the
Word.32

Therefore,
the theory which would attribute, after the incarnation as well,
a salvific activity to the Logos as such in his divinity, exercised “in
addition to” or “beyond” the humanity of Christ, is not compatible
with the Catholic faith.33

11.Similarly,
the doctrine of faith regarding the unicity of the salvific economy
willed by the One and Triune God must be firmly
believed, at the source and centre of which is the mystery of
the incarnation of the Word, mediator of divine grace on the level
of creation and redemption (cf. Col 1:15-20),
he who recapitulates all things (cf. Eph 1:10),
he “whom God has made our wisdom, our righteousness, and sanctification
and redemption” (1
Cor 1:30).
In fact, the mystery of Christ has its own intrinsic unity, which
extends from the eternal choice in God to the parousia: “he [the
Father] chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to
be holy and blameless before him in love” (Eph 1:4); “In
Christ we are heirs, having been destined according to the purpose
of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will” (Eph 1:11); “For
those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the
image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers; those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom
he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also
glorified” (Rom 8:29-30).

The
Church's Magisterium, faithful to divine revelation, reasserts that
Jesus Christ is the mediator and the universal redeemer: “The Word
of God, through whom all things were made, was made flesh, so that
as perfect man he could save all men and sum up all things in himself.
The Lord...is he whom the Father raised from the dead, exalted and
placed at his right hand, constituting him judge of the living and
the dead”.34 This salvific mediation
implies also the unicity of the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, eternal
high priest (cf. Heb 6:20;
9:11; 10:12-14).

12.There
are also those who propose the hypothesis of an economy of the Holy
Spirit with a more universal breadth than that of the Incarnate Word,
crucified and risen. This position also is contrary to the Catholic
faith, which, on the contrary, considers the salvific incarnation
of the Word as a trinitarian event. In the New Testament, the mystery
of Jesus, the Incarnate Word, constitutes the place of the Holy Spirit's
presence as well as the principle of the Spirit's effusion on humanity,
not only in messianic times (cf. Acts 2:32-36;Jn 7:39, 20:22; 1
Cor 15:45),
but also prior to his coming in history (cf. 1
Cor 10:4; 1
Pet 1:10-12).

The
Second Vatican Council has recalled to the consciousness of the Church's
faith this fundamental truth. In presenting the Father's salvific
plan for all humanity, the Council closely links the mystery of Christ
from its very beginnings with that of the Spirit.35 The
entire work of building the Church by Jesus Christ the Head, in the
course of the centuries, is seen as an action which he does in communion
with his Spirit.36

Furthermore,
the salvific action of Jesus Christ, with and through his Spirit,
extends beyond the visible boundaries of the Church to all humanity.
Speaking of the paschal mystery, in which Christ even now associates
the believer to himself in a living manner in the Spirit and gives
him the hope of resurrection, the Council states: “All this holds
true not only for Christians but also for all men of good will in
whose hearts grace is active invisibly. For since Christ died for
all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny,
which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all
the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in
the paschal mystery”.37

Hence,
the connection is clear between the salvific mystery of the Incarnate
Word and that of the Spirit, who actualizes the salvific efficacy
of the Son made man in the lives of all people, called by God to
a single goal, both those who historically preceded the Word made
man, and those who live after his coming in history: the Spirit of
the Father, bestowed abundantly by the Son, is the animator of all
(cf. Jn 3:34).

Thus,
the recent Magisterium of the Church has firmly and clearly recalled
the truth of a single divine economy: “The Spirit's presence and
activity affect not only individuals but also society and history,
peoples, cultures and religions... The Risen Christ ‘is now at work
in human hearts through the strength of his Spirit'... Again, it
is the Spirit who sows the ‘seeds of the word' present in various
customs and cultures, preparing them for full maturity in Christ”.38 While
recognizing the historical-salvific function of the Spirit in the
whole universe and in the entire history of humanity,39 the
Magisterium states: “This is the same Spirit who was at work in the
incarnation and in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and
who is at work in the Church. He is therefore not an alternative
to Christ nor does he fill a sort of void which is sometimes suggested
as existing between Christ and the Logos. Whatever the Spirit brings
about in human hearts and in the history of peoples, in cultures
and religions, serves as a preparation for the Gospel and can only
be understood in reference to Christ, the Word who took flesh by
the power of the Spirit ‘so that as perfectly human he would save
all human beings and sum up all things'”.40

In
conclusion, the action of the Spirit is not outside or parallel to
the action of Christ. There is only one salvific economy of the One
and Triune God, realized in the mystery of the incarnation, death,
and resurrection of the Son of God, actualized with the cooperation
of the Holy Spirit, and extended in its salvific value to all humanity
and to the entire universe: “No one, therefore, can enter into communion
with God except through Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit”.41

III.
UNICITY AND UNIVERSALITY
OF THE SALVIFIC MYSTERY OF JESUS CHRIST

13.The
thesis which denies the unicity and salvific universality of the
mystery of Jesus Christ is also put forward. Such a position has
no biblical foundation. In fact, the truth of Jesus Christ, Son of
God, Lord and only Saviour, who through the event of his incarnation,
death and resurrection has brought the history of salvation to fulfilment,
and which has in him its fullness and centre, must be firmly
believed as a constant element of the Church's faith.

The
New Testament attests to this fact with clarity: “The Father has
sent his Son as the Saviour of the world” (1
Jn 4:14); “Behold
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).
In his discourse before the Sanhedrin, Peter, in order to justify
the healing of a man who was crippled from birth, which was done
in the name of Jesus (cf. Acts 3:1-8),
proclaims: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other
name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
St. Paul adds, moreover, that Jesus Christ “is Lord of all”, “judge
of the living and the dead”, and thus “whoever believes in him receives
forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:
36,42,43).

Paul,
addressing himself to the community of Corinth, writes: “Indeed,
even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth — as
in fact there are many gods and many lords — yet for us there is
one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist,
and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through
whom we exist” (1
Cor 8:5-6).
Furthermore, John the Apostle states: “For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may
not perish but may have eternal life. God did not send his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might
be saved through him” (Jn 3:16-17).
In the New Testament, the universal salvific will of God is closely
connected to the sole mediation of Christ: “[God] desires all men
to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there
is one God; there is also one mediator between God and men, the man
Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1
Tim 2:4-6).

It
was in the awareness of the one universal gift of salvation offered
by the Father through Jesus Christ in the Spirit (cf. Eph 1:3-14),
that the first Christians encountered the Jewish people, showing
them the fulfilment of salvation that went beyond the Law and, in
the same awareness, they confronted the pagan world of their time,
which aspired to salvation through a plurality of saviours. This
inheritance of faith has been recalled recently by the Church's Magisterium: “The
Church believes that Christ, who died and was raised for the sake
of all (cf. 2
Cor 5:15)
can, through his Spirit, give man the light and the strength to be
able to respond to his highest calling, nor is there any other name
under heaven given among men by which they can be saved (cf. Acts 4:12).
The Church likewise believes that the key, the centre, and the purpose
of the whole of man's history is to be found in its Lord and Master”.42

14.It
must therefore be firmly believed as
a truth of Catholic faith that the universal salvific will of the
One and Triune God is offered and accomplished once for all in the
mystery of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of
God.

Bearing
in mind this article of faith, theology today, in its reflection
on the existence of other religious experiences and on their meaning
in God's salvific plan, is invited to explore if and in what way
the historical figures and positive elements of these religions may
fall within the divine plan of salvation. In this undertaking, theological
research has a vast field of work under the guidance of the Church's
Magisterium.The Second
Vatican Council, in fact, has stated that: “the unique mediation
of the Redeemer does not exclude, but rather gives rise to a manifold
cooperation which is but a participation in this one source”.43 The
content of this participated mediation should be explored more deeply,
but must remain always consistent with the principle of Christ's
unique mediation: “Although participated forms of mediation of different
kinds and degrees are not excluded, they acquire meaning and value only from
Christ's own mediation, and they cannot be understood as parallel
or complementary to his”.44 Hence, those
solutions that propose a salvific action of God beyond the unique
mediation of Christ would be contrary to Christian and Catholic faith.

15.Not
infrequently it is proposed that theology should avoid the use of
terms like “unicity”, “universality”, and “absoluteness”, which give
the impression of excessive emphasis on the significance and value
of the salvific event of Jesus Christ in relation to other religions.
In reality, however, such language is simply being faithful to revelation,
since it represents a development of the sources of the faith themselves.From
the beginning, the community of believers has recognized in Jesus
a salvific value such that he alone, as Son of God made man, crucified
and risen, by the mission received from the Father and in the power
of the Holy Spirit, bestows revelation (cf. Mt 11:27)
and divine life (cf. Jn 1:12;
5:25-26; 17:2) to all humanity and to every person.

In
this sense, one can and must say that Jesus Christ has a significance
and a value for the human race and its history, which are unique
and singular, proper to him alone, exclusive, universal, and absolute.
Jesus is, in fact, the Word of God made man for the salvation of
all. In expressing this consciousness of faith, the Second Vatican
Council teaches: “The Word of God, through whom all things were made,
was made flesh, so that as perfect man he could save all men and
sum up all things in himself. The Lord is the goal of human history,
the focal point of the desires of history and civilization, the centre
of mankind, the joy of all hearts, and the fulfilment of all aspirations.
It is he whom the Father raised from the dead, exalted and placed
at his right hand, constituting him judge of the living and the dead”.45 “It
is precisely this uniqueness of Christ which gives him an absolute
and universal significance whereby, while belonging to history, he
remains history's centre and goal: ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last, the beginning and the end' (Rev 22:13)”.46

IV.
UNICITY AND UNITY OF THE CHURCH

16.The
Lord Jesus, the only Saviour, did not only establish a simple community
of disciples, but constituted the Church as a salvific
mystery: he himself is in the Church and the Church is in him
(cf. Jn 15:1ff.; Gal 3:28; Eph 4:15-16; Acts 9:5).Therefore,
the fullness of Christ's salvific mystery belongs also to the Church,
inseparably united to her Lord. Indeed, Jesus Christ continues his
presence and his work of salvation in the Church and by means of
the Church (cf. Col 1:24-27),47 which
is his body (cf. 1
Cor 12:12-13,
27; Col 1:18).48 And
thus, just as the head and members of a living body, though not identical,
are inseparable, so too Christ and the Church can neither be confused
nor separated, and constitute a single “whole Christ”.49 This
same inseparability is also expressed in the New Testament by the
analogy of the Church as the Bride of
Christ (cf. 2
Cor 11:2; Eph 5:25-29; Rev 21:2,9).50

Therefore,
in connection with the unicity and universality of the salvific mediation
of Jesus Christ, the unicity of the Church founded by him must be firmly
believed as a truth of Catholic faith. Just as there is one Christ,
so there exists a single body of Christ, a single Bride of Christ: “a
single Catholic and apostolic Church”.51 Furthermore,
the promises of the Lord that he would not abandon his Church (cf. Mt 16:18;
28:20) and that he would guide her by his Spirit (cf. Jn 16:13)
mean, according to Catholic faith, that the unicity and the unity
of the Church — like everything that belongs to the Church's integrity — will
never be lacking.52

The
Catholic faithful are required
to profess that there is an historical continuity — rooted in
the apostolic succession53 — between
the Church founded by Christ and the Catholic Church: “This is the
single Church of Christ... which our Saviour, after his resurrection,
entrusted to Peter's pastoral care (cf. Jn 21:17),
commissioning him and the other Apostles to extend and rule her (cf. Mt 28:18ff.),
erected for all ages as ‘the pillar and mainstay of the truth' (1
Tim 3:15).
This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present
world, subsists in [subsistit
in] the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and
by the Bishops in communion with him”.54With
the expression subsistit in, the
Second Vatican Council sought to harmonize two doctrinal statements:
on the one hand, that the Church of Christ, despite the divisions
which exist among Christians, continues to exist fully only in the
Catholic Church, and on the other hand, that “outside of her structure,
many elements can be found of sanctification and truth”,55 that
is, in those Churches and ecclesial communities which are not yet
in full communion with the Catholic Church.56 But
with respect to these, it needs to be stated that “they derive their
efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the
Catholic Church”.57

17.Therefore,
there exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic
Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in
communion with him.58 The Churches which,
while not existing in perfect communion with the Catholic Church,
remain united to her by means of the closest bonds, that is, by apostolic
succession and a valid Eucharist, are true particular Churches.59 Therefore,
the Church of Christ is present and operative also in these Churches,
even though they lack full communion with the Catholic Church, since
they do not accept the Catholic doctrine of the Primacy, which, according
to the will of God, the Bishop of Rome objectively has and exercises
over the entire Church.60

On
the other hand, the ecclesial communities which have not preserved
the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the
Eucharistic mystery,61 are not Churches
in the proper sense; however, those who are baptized in these communities
are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain
communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church.62 Baptism
in fact tends per se toward the full development of life in Christ,
through the integral profession of faith, the Eucharist, and full
communion in the Church.63

“The
Christian faithful are therefore not permitted to imagine that the
Church of Christ is nothing more than a collection — divided, yet
in some way one — of Churches and ecclesial communities; nor are
they free to hold that today the Church of Christ nowhere really
exists, and must be considered only as a goal which all Churches
and ecclesial communities must strive to reach”.64 In
fact, “the elements of this already-given Church exist, joined together
in their fullness in the Catholic Church and, without this fullness,
in the other communities”.65 “Therefore,
these separated Churches and communities as such, though we believe
they suffer from defects, have by no means been deprived of significance
and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the spirit of Christ
has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive
their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted
to the Catholic Church”.66

The
lack of unity among Christians is certainly a wound for
the Church; not in the sense that she is deprived of her unity, but “in
that it hinders the complete fulfilment of her universality in history”.67

V.
THE CHURCH: KINGDOM OF GOD
AND KINGDOM OF CHRIST

18.The
mission of the Church is “to proclaim and establish among all peoples
the kingdom of Christ and of God, and she is on earth, the seed and
the beginning of that kingdom”.68 On
the one hand, the Church is “a sacrament — that is, sign and instrument
of intimate union with God and of unity of the entire human race”.69 She
is therefore the sign and instrument of the kingdom; she is called
to announce and to establish the kingdom. On the other hand, the
Church is the “people gathered by the unity of the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit”;70 she is therefore “the
kingdom of Christ already present in mystery”71 and
constitutes its seed and beginning. The
kingdom of God, in fact, has an eschatological dimension: it is a
reality present in time, but its full realization will arrive only
with the completion or fulfilment of history.72

The
meaning of the expressions kingdom
of heaven, kingdom of God, and kingdom
of Christ in Sacred Scripture and the Fathers of the Church,
as well as in the documents of the Magisterium, is not always exactly
the same, nor is their relationship to the Church, which is a mystery
that cannot be totally contained by a human concept. Therefore, there
can be various theological explanations of these terms. However,
none of these possible explanations can deny or empty in any way
the intimate connection between Christ, the kingdom, and the Church.
In fact, the kingdom of God which we know from revelation, “cannot
be detached either from Christ or from the Church... If the kingdom
is separated from Jesus, it is no longer the kingdom of God which
he revealed.The result
is a distortion of the meaning of the kingdom, which runs the risk
of being transformed into a purely human or ideological goal and
a distortion of the identity of Christ, who no longer appears as
the Lord to whom everything must one day be subjected (cf. 1
Cor 15:27).
Likewise, one may not separate the kingdom from the Church. It is
true that the Church is not an end unto herself, since she is ordered
toward the kingdom of God, of which she is the seed, sign and instrument.
Yet, while remaining distinct from Christ and the kingdom, the Church
is indissolubly united to both”.73

19.To
state the inseparable relationship between Christ and the kingdom
is not to overlook the fact that the kingdom of God — even if considered
in its historical phase — is not identified with the Church in her
visible and social reality.In
fact, “the action of Christ and the Spirit outside the Church's visible
boundaries” must not be excluded.74 Therefore,
one must also bear in mind that “the kingdom is the concern of everyone:
individuals, society and the world. Working for the kingdom means
acknowledging and promoting God's activity, which is present in human
history and transforms it. Building the kingdom means working for
liberation from evil in all its forms.In
a word, the kingdom of God is the manifestation and the realization
of God's plan of salvation in all its fullness”.75

In
considering the relationship between the kingdom of God, the kingdom
of Christ, and the Church, it is necessary to avoid one-sided accentuations,
as is the case with those “conceptions which deliberately emphasize
the kingdom and which describe themselves as ‘kingdom centred.' They
stress the image of a Church which is not concerned about herself,
but which is totally concerned with bearing witness to and serving
the kingdom. It is a ‘Church for others,' just as Christ is the ‘man
for others'... Together with positive aspects, these conceptions
often reveal negative aspects as well. First, they are silent about
Christ: the kingdom of which they speak is ‘theocentrically' based,
since, according to them, Christ cannot be understood by those who
lack Christian faith, whereas different peoples, cultures, and religions
are capable of finding common ground in the one divine reality, by
whatever name it is called. For the same reason, they put great stress
on the mystery of creation, which is reflected in the diversity of
cultures and beliefs, but they keep silent about the mystery of redemption.
Furthermore, the kingdom, as they understand it, ends up either leaving
very little room for the Church or undervaluing the Church in reaction
to a presumed ‘ecclesiocentrism' of the past and because they consider
the Church herself only a sign, for that matter a sign not without
ambiguity”.76 These theses are contrary
to Catholic faith because they deny the unicity of the relationship
which Christ and the Church have with the kingdom of God.

VI.
THE CHURCH AND THE OTHER RELIGIONS
IN RELATION TO SALVATION

20.From
what has been stated above, some points follow that are necessary
for theological reflection as it explores the relationship of the
Church and the other religions to salvation.

Above
all else, it must be firmly
believed that “the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary
for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation;
he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly
asserted the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5),
and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church
which men enter through baptism as through a door”.77 This
doctrine must not be set against the universal salvific will of God
(cf. 1
Tim 2:4); “it
is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real
possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity
of the Church for this salvation”.78

The
Church is the “universal sacrament of salvation”,79 since,
united always in a mysterious way to the Saviour Jesus Christ, her
Head, and subordinated to him, she has, in God's plan, an indispensable
relationship with the salvation of every human being.80For
those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, “salvation
in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having
a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally
part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated
to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from
Christ; it is the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by
the Holy Spirit”;81 it has a relationship
with the Church, which “according to the plan of the Father, has
her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit”.82

21.With
respect to the way in
which the salvific grace of God — which is always given by means
of Christ in the Spirit and has a mysterious relationship to the
Church — comes to individual non-Christians, the Second Vatican Council
limited itself to the statement that God bestows it “in ways known
to himself”.83Theologians
are seeking to understand this question more fully.Their
work is to be encouraged, since it is certainly useful for understanding
better God's salvific plan and the ways in which it is accomplished.
However, from what has been stated above about the mediation of Jesus
Christ and the “unique and special relationship”84 which
the Church has with the kingdom of God among men — which in substance
is the universal kingdom of Christ the Saviour — it is clear that
it would be contrary to the faith to consider the Church as one
way of salvation alongside those constituted by the other religions,
seen as complementary to the Church or substantially equivalent to
her, even if these are said to be converging with the Church toward
the eschatological kingdom of God.

Certainly,
the various religious traditions contain and offer religious elements
which come from God,85 and which are
part of what “the Spirit brings about in human hearts and in the
history of peoples, in cultures, and religions”.86 Indeed,
some prayers and rituals of the other religions may assume a role
of preparation for the Gospel, in that they are occasions or pedagogical
helps in which the human heart is prompted to be open to the action
of God.87 One cannot attribute to these,
however, a divine origin or an ex
opere operato salvific efficacy, which is proper to the Christian
sacraments.88 Furthermore, it cannot
be overlooked that other rituals, insofar as they depend on superstitions
or other errors (cf. 1
Cor 10:20-21),
constitute an obstacle to salvation.89

22.With
the coming of the Saviour Jesus Christ, God has willed that the Church
founded by him be the instrument for the salvation of all humanity
(cf. Acts 17:30-31).90 This
truth of faith does not lessen the sincere respect which the Church
has for the religions of the world, but at the same time, it rules
out, in a radical way, that mentality of indifferentism “characterized
by a religious relativism which leads to the belief that ‘one religion
is as good as another'”.91 If it is
true that the followers of other religions can receive divine grace,
it is also certain that objectively
speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation in comparison
with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the means of
salvation.92However, “all
the children of the Church should nevertheless remember that their
exalted condition results, not from their own merits, but from the
grace of Christ. If they fail to respond in thought, word, and deed
to that grace, not only shall they not be saved, but they shall be
more severely judged”.93 One understands
then that, following the Lord's command (cf. Mt 28:19-20)
and as a requirement of her love for all people, the Church “proclaims
and is in duty bound to proclaim without fail, Christ who is the
way, the truth, and the life (Jn 14:6).
In him, in whom God reconciled all things to himself (cf. 2
Cor 5:18-19),
men find the fullness of their religious life”.94

In
inter-religious dialogue as well, the mission ad
gentes “today as always retains its full force and necessity”.95“Indeed,
God ‘desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the
truth' (1
Tim 2:4); that is, God wills the salvation of everyone through
the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth. Those
who obey the promptings of the Spirit of truth are already on the
way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted,
must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth.
Because she believes in God's universal plan of salvation, the Church
must be missionary”.96 Inter-religious
dialogue, therefore, as part of her evangelizing mission, is just
one of the actions of the Church in her mission ad
gentes.97Equality, which
is a presupposition of inter-religious dialogue, refers to the equal
personal dignity of the parties in dialogue, not to doctrinal content,
nor even less to the position of Jesus Christ — who is God himself
made man — in relation to the founders of the other religions. Indeed,
the Church, guided by charity and respect for freedom,98 must
be primarily committed to proclaiming to all people the truth definitively
revealed by the Lord, and to announcing the necessity of conversion
to Jesus Christ and of adherence to the Church through Baptism and
the other sacraments, in order to participate fully in communion
with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus, the certainty of
the universal salvific will of God does not diminish, but rather
increases the duty and urgency of the proclamation of salvation and
of conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION

23.The
intention of the present Declaration, in
reiterating and clarifying certain truths of the faith, has been
to follow the example of the Apostle Paul, who wrote to the faithful
of Corinth: “I handed on to you as of first importance what I myself
received” (1
Cor 15:3).
Faced with certain problematic and even erroneous propositions, theological
reflection is called to reconfirm the Church's faith and to give
reasons for her hope in a way that is convincing and effective.

In
treating the question of the true religion, the Fathers of the Second
Vatican Council taught: “We believe that this one true religion continues
to exist in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, to which the Lord
Jesus entrusted the task of spreading it among all people. Thus,
he said to the Apostles: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you' (Mt
28:19-20). Especially in those things that concern God and his
Church, all persons are required to seek the truth, and when they
come to know it, to embrace it and hold fast to it”.99

The
revelation of Christ will continue to be “the true lodestar” 100 in
history for all humanity: “The truth, which is Christ, imposes itself
as an all-embracing authority”. 101 The
Christian mystery, in fact, overcomes all barriers of time and space,
and accomplishes the unity of the human family: “From their different
locations and traditions all are called in Christ to share in the
unity of the family of God's children... Jesus destroys the walls
of division and creates unity in a new and unsurpassed way through
our sharing in his mystery. This unity is so deep that the Church
can say with Saint Paul: ‘You are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are saints and members of the household of God' (Eph 2:19)”. 102

The
Sovereign Pontiff John Paul II, at the Audience of June 16, 2000,
granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, with sure knowledge and by his apostolic
authority, ratified and confirmed this Declaration, adopted in
Plenary Session and ordered its publication.

Rome,
from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
August 6, 2000, the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

Joseph Card. Ratzinger
Prefect

Tarcisio
Bertone, S.D.B.
Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli
Secretary

(1) First
Council of Constantinople, Symbolum
Constantinopolitanum: DS 150.

(23) Second
Vatican Council, Declaration Nostra
aetate, 2; cf. Second
Vatican Council, Decree Ad
gentes, 9, where it speaks of the elements of good present “in
the particular customs and cultures of peoples”; Dogmatic Constitution Lumen
gentium, 16, where it mentions the elements of good and
of truth present among non-Christians, which can be considered
a preparation for the reception of the Gospel.

(42) Second
Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium
et spes, 10. Cf. St. Augustine, who wrote that Christ is
the way, which “has never been lacking to mankind... and apart
from this way no one has been set free, no one is being set free,
no one will be set free” De
civitate Dei 10, 32, 2: CCSL 47,
312.

(45) Second
Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium
et spes, 45. The necessary and absolute singularity of
Christ in human history is well expressed by St. Irenaeus in contemplating
the preeminence of Jesus as firstborn Son: “In the heavens, as
firstborn of the Father's counsel, the perfect Word governs and
legislates all things; on the earth, as firstborn of the Virgin,
a man just and holy, reverencing God and pleasing to God, good
and perfect in every way, he saves from hell all those who follow
him since he is the firstborn from the dead and Author of the life
of God” (Demonstratio apostolica, 39: SC 406,
138).

(56)
The interpretation of those who would derive from the formula subsistit
in the thesis that the one Church of Christ could subsist also
in non
-Catholic
Churches and ecclesial communities is therefore contrary to the authentic
meaning of Lumen
gentium. “The Council instead chose the word subsistit precisely
to clarify that there exists only one ‘subsistence' of the true Church,
while outside her visible structure there only exist elementa
Ecclesiae, which — being elements of that same Church — tend
and lead toward the Catholic Church” (Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, Notification
on the Book “Church: Charism and Power” by Father Leonardo Boff: AAS 77
[1985], 756
-762).

(72)
Cf. ibid., 9;
cf. also the prayer addressed to God found in the Didache 9,4: SC 248,
176: “May the Church be gathered from the ends of the earth into
your kingdom” and ibid. 10,
5: SC 248, 180: “Remember,
Lord, your Church... and, made holy, gather her together from the
four winds into your kingdom which you have prepared for her”.

(82) Second
Vatican Council, Decree Ad
gentes, 2. The famous formula extra
Ecclesiam nullus omnino salvatur is to be interpreted in this
sense (cf. Fourth Lateran
Council, Cap. 1. De
fide catholica: DS 802).
Cf. also the Letter of the
Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston: DS 3866-3872.